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Average World Temperature Sets Record
Woman Dies During Grand Canyon Hike
FBI Has New Tactic To Stop Ransomware
Federal JudgeTerry A. Doughty has issued a preliminary ruling that cites the First Amendment in preventing federal agencies from meeting and communicating with social media companies about “protected speech” in order to pressure them into eliminating disfavored views online. Doughty wrote that the Republican attorneys-general from Louisiana and Missouri who brought the lawsuit “have produced evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content.”
The order carved out exceptions for communications between government officials and the companies that are intended to warn them of national security threats, criminal activity, or voter suppression.
The attorneys-general alleged that government officials went too far in their efforts to encourage social media companies to address posts that potentially could contribute to vaccine hesitancy during the pandemic, or to upend elections. They accused the Biden administration of enabling a “sprawling federal ‘Censorship Enterprise’” to encourage tech giants to remove politically unfavorable viewpoints and speakers, saying it was “the most egregious violations of the First Amendment in the history of the United States of America.”
Investigative reporters reviewing internal Twitter files found communications proving that the government was exerting pressure on the tech companies to censor facts such as examples of serious vaccine side effects that, while true, might lead some people to avoid getting the vaccine. Rather than acknowledging the information in the files, government officials and members of the legacy media have personally attacked the reporters’ reputations.
As is common in censorship efforts, the government pressure backfired, eroding people’s trust in federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which abandoned its policy of insisting that possible side effects of medications be spelled out. Many people who learned that they were not being told the whole story became leery of all vaccines, endangering efforts to keep diseases under control.
Average World Temperature Sets Record
Researchers in the United States said the world’s average temperature reached a new high on July 3, topping 17 degrees Celsius for the first time since instrumental records have been kept, beginning at the end of the 19th century.
Scientists believe a combination of El Niño, a natural weather event, and mankind's ongoing emissions of carbon dioxide are responsible for the heat.
The month of June also set a world temperature record. Record-breaking spring heat in Spain and many Asian countries has led to marine heatwaves in places such as the North Sea that do not normally experience them.
Woman Dies During Grand Canyon Hike
A 57-year-old woman on an eight-mile hike in Grand Canyon National Park succumbed to the hot temperatures over the weekend, according to park officials.
Park rangers received a call about the missing woman around 6:30 p.m. on July 2. “A ranger arrived on scene at approximately 1 a.m. on July 3 and pronounced the hiker deceased," officials confirmed in a news release.
The Tuweep area had exceeded 100 degrees, and Phantom Ranch near the Colorado River reached 114 degrees over the weekend. Weather forecasters issued an Excessive Heat Warning for the inner canyon sections of the Grand Canyon until Wednesday.
FBI Has New Tactic To Stop Ransomware
Hive was one of the world’s most prolific criminal syndicates, notorious for shutting down the computer networks of American schools, businesses, and health care facilities, and then demanding ransoms to restore access. It exists no more, after FBI field agents in Florida managed to hack into Hive’s network in July 2022 and undermined its extortion efforts by helping targeted organizations unlock their systems on their own.
The FBI estimates that it saved victims across the globe roughly $130 million with the sting, without arresting a single hacker — an enforcement problem with most cybercriminals because they operate in countries beyond the reach of U.S. law. Still, the operation proves the effectiveness of the approach, according to Adam Hickey, the deputy assistant attorney-general in the Justice Department’s national security division at the time of the Hive takedown. “You’d have to be a gorilla to think that putting people in jail is the only way to counter the cyber threat,” Hickey told Politico.
The FBI’s tedious digital sabotage effort provided temporary gains, but the criminals can regroup and start over again. They now know, however, that U.S. law enforcement is on their heels.
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The issue with the 1st amendment and social media. The first amendment has nothing to do with truth and how, “alternative facts”, lies, are spread. It would be lovely if Americans had the ability and time to research messaging. But, they don’t. Or, just do not. For complicated reasons. I like the scene in the Blues Brothers movie with the Nazi’s. Just how do we combat this without stepping on the 1st amendment. I don’t have an answer. But, to restrict talking to companies…isn’t that a restriction on free speech? I am very confused about this world.